Vision acts as the navigation radar for human locomotion, transmitting environmental information to the brain and regulating motor decisions through sensorimotor integration. When visual input is impaired, how does the brain maintain walking stability via functional remodeling? Deciphering this neural mechanism can provide a brand-new brain function regulation approach for motor rehabilitation in low-vision populations.
The present study adopted Bangerter™ occlusion foils to simulate visual impairment, combined with pattern-reversal visual evoked potentials (PR-VEPs) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). It comparatively analyzed the visual electrophysiological characteristics and post-walking brain function changes of healthy young adults under normal vision and visual occlusion conditions. This study was published in Volume 139, Issue 06 on March 20, 2026, in the Chinese Medical Journal .
The results demonstrated that the simulated visual impairment significantly reduced the signal-processing efficiency of the visual pathway, verifying the stability of the low-quality visual input model. Further rs-fMRI analysis revealed that the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) in the right paracentral lobule decreased after walking under normal vision compared with the resting state. In contrast, the ALFF of this region slightly rebounded after walking under visual occlusion, reflecting the adaptive adjustment of local brain functional activities.
Meanwhile, walking activated functional connectivity in multiple sensorimotor pathways that support basic locomotion. These pathways included the bilateral calcarine and middle temporal gyrus, bilateral supplementary motor area and right cuneus, as well as bilateral precentral gyrus and right cerebellar lobule VI.
Most crucially, visual occlusion further strengthened the functional connectivity between the right precentral gyrus and middle frontal gyrus, which may serve as the core compensatory mechanism to make up for insufficient visual input. The findings suggest that the brain achieves walking function compensation under low-quality visual input through a strategy of rigid activation of sensorimotor pathways combined with targeted enhancement of local functional connectivity.
This study provides a new way to enhance motor rehabilitation in low-vision populations. In the future, we can adopt visual-somatosensory multimodal integrated training. This training would be designed to strengthen the functional connectivity of key brain regions, such as the right precentral gyrus and middle frontal gyrus. On this basis, we will develop personalized motor rehabilitation programs for low-vision patients at the brain function level.
